Overall Rating

User Review

Hanna struggles to balance stylish girl power with dramatic coming-of-age development. Wright is best known for acclaimed period British dramas that relish in classicism and Keira Knightley. So much to our surprise, he broke away from his comfort zone and directed this action thriller. For the most part, he succeeds. But, it is obviously clear that Wright is more comfortable with the dramatic elements as opposed to the supposedly exhilarating action sequences that ultimately did not work. Growing up in the middle of a forest with her father, Hanna braves the outside world where she is hunted by operatives. She is trained to be the perfect assassin, and it is with this central plot point that the theme of female empowerment and individualism reigns supreme. Ronan gives a transformative performance as she dives into a genre that is fairly unknown to her. Once the delicate father daughter relationship had been established, Hanna travels across Europe with a family she encounters, and it is during this time that we see her truly develop and experience a world unfamiliar to her. However, the vast amount of the runtime spent on her natural coming-of-age progression, meant that the main plot subsided, concluding in an underwhelming fashion (and unexpectedly instant!). Wright, unable to execute the action eloquently and excitingly due to over rehearsed cumbersome combat sequences, chooses to film what he is comfortable doing (despite The Chemical Brothers' euphoric score). A consequence of this is that it makes the other half of the film rather generic and unfortunately does not fully embrace its characters. Hanna herself occasionally feels cold as a character, despite a substantial amount of personable development. In fact, the entire plot was rather over-meticulous. Essentially, we have two genre films on offer. One is clearly better than the other, but with great supporting performances and rapid pacing, Hanna just about saves itself from being assassinated. It's unfortunate that both strands didn't come together as efficiently as I would've hoped for...